


Hands And Feet

by QueenSquared



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Black Blue and Red are on a mission, Gen, Hints at Shatt but that's really not important, Hurt/Comfort, Lidge if you squint, Platonic Love, and nothing can stand in their way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 22:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8263447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSquared/pseuds/QueenSquared
Summary: While on a rescue mission, Lance tells Keith and Shiro a story about his time at The Garrison.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this was supposed to be completely platonic, but after reading it over, I realized that I used the word "love" super liberally here. Interpret that however you will.
> 
> Enjoy<3

Lance was a clumsy boy, but nothing could trip him up so bad that he would lose track of the ship. _The_ ship that carried the bodies of his friends.

Shiro and Keith were only a few steps behind, but Lance felt like they were dragging him down. Instead of stopping, he climbed over rocks, jumped mini canyons and bolted through the brush, even though twigs and leaves would get snagged in his skin. He ran for his life.

No, he ran for _their_ lives.

"Hunk!" he shrieked, climbing to the top of a hill. "Pidge!"

 Calculating how far he would have to jump to land on the ship took too long, as the ship was quickly gaining distance. Lance stood on the edge of a rocky cliff with his arms stretched out in frustration.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Lance summoned his beyard and prepared to fire at one of the engines. Before he could do any damage, Shiro pulled him down, sending the blast slightly to the right, missing the ship entirely. It landed far, exploding into a mountain and Lance fell to his knees.

"No!"

He could only watch in anguish as the ship disappeared as a tiny dot in the sky. Once it was gone, Lance reeled on Shiro, bringing his fists to his chest.

"You let them get away!"

 Shiro didn't fight back, hurt at Lance's accusation. Keith pulled him away, releasing him onto the dirt.

"This is _not_ Shiro's fault. You wouldn't have been able to get to them if you tried."

Keith tried to keep his harsh composure, but it was hard. Especially with Lance's quivering lip.

"Lance, you're a mess. We should head back to the castle, rejuvenate, and then set off for the Galra."

 Lance wanted to bite his head off, but new light to the subject awakened his senses. Suddenly, his body was sore and he became aware of all the cuts and bruises littering his skin. Shiro and Keith looked worse for wear. A deep gash ran along Shiro's stomach and one of Keith's eyes was swollen shut. He didn't like the sound of either one's breathing.

Left confused and with no idea what to do, Lance looked to their leader.

"Shiro, I...what do we do?"

Before Shiro could propose anything. thunder cracked across the sky and lightning shot down from above. As the clouds rolled in, heavy droplets of rain rolled in toward them.

Shiro turned to the others. "Find shelter!"

It was hard running through the quickly muddying terrain, but the three men were successful. Lance had to help Keith support Shiro as they hopped over rocks, trying to avoid rapidly accumulating puddles. Keith scanned the area, desperate for a hiding place.

"Over there! Between those two trees. Looks like a cave." Shiro said.

Keith saw exactly what he was talking about. Quickly picking up the pace, they ran down the hill and crawled into the cavern.

"No one will be able to find us this way" Keith breathed, sitting down on the rocky ground.

Shiro threw himself down next to him, pulling off his helmet. "The comm links are down. I can't get through to Allura. I can't get through to anyone."

"Looks like we're stuck here then, huh?"

Shiro and Keith looked at Lance. He was huddled against the wall with his knees hugged to his chest.

"Lance" Shiro assured. " I'm sorry we were too late, but we shouldn't worry. They're going to be okay."

Lance laughed, the most positive response Shiro got from him all day. But it was forced and stiff.

"You keep saying that. And I know you know the Galra" Lance pointed out. "But you don't know Hunk and Pidge like I do."

He took in a shuddering breath, not looking either in the eye. Wasting time here on earth was foolish. He felt betrayed.

"They are strong, but they can only take so much. Pidge won't stop until until something pins her down. Until something..." Lance winced. "And Hunk. He'll throw himself into the line of fire. Yes, he's strong. But he's soft. He won't be enough. I can't lose my family."

Though he didn't feel like moving, Shiro crawled closer to him. Not fond to the new emptiness beside him, Keith scooted back to Shiro's side, looking at Lance.

"What do you mean?"

Lance stayed curled in on himself. "Pidge is my sister."

A few seconds of silence passed between them. All except for the rain outside.

Keith scoffed. "That's impossible."

Lance glowered at him. "Not my _actual_ sister! God, Keith."

"You didn't even know she was a girl until 3 days ago."

There might as well had been a knife stuck in Lance's back. He hated the reminder.

"I know" he grumbled. "But from the moment I met 'him', I knew she was different. Different from the other cadets. And it wasn't just because she sat alone at lunch everyday or locked herself in her barrack after every simulator. She had a different goal than the rest of us. She wasn't just coasting through flight school to get her license. Because unlike me, she knew what she was there for. And I couldn't help her."

Shiro put a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Lance. You did all you could..."

Lance swatted his hand away. "But I couldn't. Help. Her. I tried so hard. And the worst part of that is, other people didn't have to try."

 They knew who he was talking about.

"Hunk is easy to love. Of course, he easily loves. Maybe that's why Pidge loved him back."

Keith scuffled the dirt. "You don't think that Pidge loves you the way you do?"

Lance scowled at Keith. "You weren't at the Garrison then. You wouldn't know whether she loved me or not."

"Lance" Shiro eased. "What happened?"

 Lance was quiet for so long that Shiro thought he was done talking. But he sighed.

"We used to be so close. You have to be that way with your whole crew. You know that."

Shiro blushed. He definitely knew.

"So that's what I did. I was already close with Hunk so I tried to become close with Pidge. And lemme tell you, it was no walk in the park. But Hunk helped me. He was there every time. And suddenly Pidge's indifference didn't seem so.....different."

Lance looked at Keith. "We made a pretty good team" and Keith felt his chest clench. He didn't want to pry but he couldn't help it.

"And then?"

Lance's face hardened. "Then, what do you think? Things got in the way. Kerberos consumed her and she wouldn't tell me why. I found out later that she didn't tell me a lot of things."

Keith nodded, but it made him kind of sad that Pidge's secret had this kind of impact on him.

"We stopped having late night conversations. She told me she didn't have time to mess around. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just let it go."

Lance stopped talking for a moment but Shiro didn't press him this time.

"And then you showed up. Some kind of miracle. We were all happy to get out of that place."

Keith stiffened. "You didn't like The Garrison?"

"GOD no. I kept telling myself that if I worked really hard, then I could get out early, and go live with my family again. But I was never as good as the other cadets."

Keith leaned forward. "Lance..."

Lance shook his head. "Don't tell me how you think you understand. You weren't there" and then softly added, "Hunk always was."

 Lance went on to tell them about the many _many_ late nights at the Garrison where the days were long and the evenings were longer. The darkness of the barracks swallowed him until he could only focus on his breathing rather than sleeping."

But it only hurt for a few moments because Hunk always knew when something was wrong.

While tears would trickle down Lance's face, he'd often notice the silhouette of a hand on the edge of his mattress, beckoning him down to the lower bunk. Lance would climb down the ladder and find a half-awake Hunk with outstretched arms. He would waste no time climbing into them.

As his tears would subside, Hunk would whisper sweet assurances to him, no matter how exhausted he seemed.

"You are so much greater than you think you are."

Lance didn't realize he was actually crying until he felt Shiro's strong arms around him. He clung to Shiro like a lifeline, wondering just how he could have ever enjoyed living at The Garrison. 

"So yeah" he sobbed. "We need to save them. Because they need us. But also, because I need them too."


End file.
